Cherry Blossom Watch Update: April 13, 2014

It's another beautiful spring morning, and the cherry blossoms are still in full bloom. There are more petals on the ground now, and when you look closely you can find green leaves poking through on more branches, but overall the blossoms are still in their prime.

If you're planning on going to the Tidal Basin today, driving and parking probably isn't your best bet (here are some other ideas). By about 6:30AM there were already a lot of people driving around hunting for a parking spot.

The Week Ahead

Here's some ideas of what we can probably expect over the coming week. This isn't an exact science, and there are variables like storms and hot or windy weather that can help speed things along. In the past few years, most of the blossoms have been gone by about 6 days after peak bloom. I plan to keep adding regular updates through the week, so check back to find the latest status.

Monday: The cherry blossoms will still be looking great. They're just passing their prime and trending pink. There will be lots of petals on the ground, and if you look closely you'll be able to see green leaves poking through on branches, but for the most part the trees will be looking fluffy and pink and beautiful. As an added bonus, even with schools out on spring break, it probably won't be as swamped with people as it has been over the weekend.

UPDATE: Hot, windy weather ended up speeding things up and most of the blossoms were going by Monday.

Tuesday - Friday: The trees will be turning more each day. It happens surprisingly quickly, and the odds of seeing the blossoms out will get progressively smaller as the week goes on. There'll be a mix of trees that have turned with trees that still have some blossoms--there'll be fewer of the latter toward the end of the week. The weather forecast is cold and rainy on Tuesday, and cold and sunny on Wednesday.

UPDATE: By Tuesday the blossoms were mostly gone. You can see the photos in Tuesday's update.

Easter Weekend (Apr 19-20): Most of the blossoms will probably be gone. But because they don't all flick the switch at exactly the same moment, it can't be ruled out that there might be the occasional straggler if you go looking. And there'll be other varieties of flowering trees and plants in bloom in the area. One area worth checking out is on Ohio Drive SW at the intersection on the western side of Hains Point with Buckeye Drive, near the US Park Police headquarters. There's a grove there of a different variety of cherry tree that is often out a little later than the ones around the Tidal Basin, although I haven't checked on them this year. We're still also waiting on most of the tulips, which are a highlight in spring around the National Mall, US Capitol Building, National Arboretum, Iwo Jima Memorial, and George Washington Parkway. There are some out around town, but not yet nearly as many as we usually have.

UPDATE: I've added more details on the Kwanzan Cherry Blossoms in Tuesday's update.

Photos from Today

Here's what you can expect if you go today.

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